Category: hunger

creativity, hunger, thankful, writing

Leap: Thank You Notes Volume 2

Christa Avampato
Will Ferrell in Casa de Mi Padre

Last week, I wrote my first volume of Thank You Notes in tribute to Jimmy Fallon’s segment. This week I had a few shining and not-so-shining moments:

Thank you, Delta Airlines, for making me fully aware that if I book with miles, then getting me to my destination on time is not your priority.

Thank you, SXSW, for helping me realize that there’s a better way to spend my 9-5.

Thank you, local hardware store, for keeping my wallet safe when I absent-mindedly left it at your counter for a solid 30 minutes before I noticed it was missing.

Thank you, older women, for being the new face of real beauty. Now the rest of us can stop trying to look like we’re 19.

Thank you, Greg Smith, what all people in financial services know but are afraid to say.

Thank you, Rick Santorum, for reminding us what a scary country this would be without separation of church and state.

Thank you, Will Ferrell, for teaching us that we’re never too old to learn a new language.

Thank you, Think Coffee, for showing us that opportunity can be found in the most unlikely places such as a Korean talk show that helped this NYC local business expand internationally.

community, hunger, nonprofit

Step 145: MercyCorp’s Action Center to End World Hunger

Christa Avampato

“If you can’t feed a hundred people, then just feed one.” ~ Mother Theresa

My company sponsors MercyCorp’s Action Center to End World Hunger, a small interactive museum in Manhattan’s Financial District that helps individuals contribute to the cause to end hunger by giving whatever time they can – a minute, an hour, a day, a lifetime. The center makes it easy to get involved, recognizing and celebrating the power of many small collective actions by a community. Hunger, sadly, lives in every community around the world so we can take action locally and globally.

On a lunch break last week, I walked across the street to the center. One of the staff members greeted me, showed me the 8 minute promo video featuring Tina Fey, and took me around to the different interactive stations that begin to outline the complexity of hunger issues. I was overwhelmed by all of the small ways we can help, and how easy the center makes it participate in a solution.

I picked up a postcard that promotes the website tenthingsyoucando.com, an easy-to-navigate site that segments by category immediate actions we can take to end hunger. From eating locally grown food in season to taking up utilities companies’ offers to switch part of our energy bill to renewable energy sources to adopting an orangutan, our existing interests can be tweaked to work towards the fight against hunger.

For more information and to learn about ways to get involved, visit the center’s website: http://www.actioncenter.org.

charity, children, education, hope, hunger, school, shopping

My Year of Hopefulness – How a Dime Makes a Difference with a FEED 100 Bag

Christa Avampato

I arrived home last night to my ordinary neighborhood after a mostly ordinary day at the office. I walked down a few blocks to Whole Foods with the intention of picking up dinner and going back to my apartment to watch NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams – one of my favorite weeknight activities. (Nerdy, I know. I can’t help it. I’m addicted to the news, and I love the “Making a Difference” segment.)

After filling up my little basket, I headed to the cash register where the woman who was ringing up my groceries asked if I’d like to buy a FEED 100 Bag, a reusable shopping bag made from 100% organic cotton and sustainable burlap. Hmmm…I had seen these before though wasn’t totally sure what the deal was. They used to be $30. They’re now $10, and wait until you hear what they do!



For $10, you provide 100 hungry children in Rwanda with a nutritious school meal through the UN World Food Program (WFP). A single dime per child. 400,000,000 children go to bed every night hungry. And that pain of hunger is devastating. I know first hand. When I was a kid, we struggled financially and my brother, sister, and I often went to bed hungry, and scared, and feeling alone. We had free and reduced-price lunch for most of my childhood and I can guarantee that this program was one of the huge blessings that saved me. Literally. With that meal, I was able to pay more attention to my studies, which earned me good grades, which helped me to go college and graduate school, which helped me build a good, successful life.



A lot of people look at school statistics like “75% of children at this school receive free lunch” and see it as just that – a statistic. A number on an Excel spreadsheet. When I see these numbers, I see me, and my brother, and my sister, and a lot of people in my hometown who grew up just like us. This tiny contribution of $10 makes a difference, I assure you.



I arrived home from an ordinary day and I had the opportunity to do something extraordinary. A very small act that will make a very big difference. I helped 100 kids around the world have a chance to follow in my same path to happier, healthier days. You can, too. FEED 100 Bags are available at Whole Foods nationwide.

community, community service, hunger, poverty, volunteer

Blog Action Day

Christa Avampato

It’s arrived – Blog Action Day 2008 when thousands of bloggers band together to talk about a single issue. This year, the issue is poverty. I do a lot of community service and one of my favorite places to serve, literally and figuratively, is the University Soup Kitchen. 


Started in New York City by professors at NYU, the University Soup Kitchen is on the Lower East Side and serves a hot meal with dignity and grace to anyone and everyone who comes in the door. It is an incredible effort and facility run entirely by volunteers, every Saturday of the year. In addition, donated groceries are bagged up for guests to take with them as they leave. 

Anyone can volunteer. And everyone in NYC who has the means and desire to volunteer to help nourish and support people who are in such dire need, should spend a Saturday afternoon with the incredible volunteers at the University Soup Kitchen. It’s easy work, a great place to meet and work alongside other young people, and most importantly, it means the world to the people who look forward to that meal all week.  

Find out more information and sign up:  http://www.streetproject.org/projectdisplay.php?pid=10